The value for money (VFM) review of Asylum and Immigration commenced in late 2004 and was completed in early 2006. An external quality assessment of the report was completed in July 2006 and the report was published on my Department's website in November 2006.
The VFM review of asylum and immigration was carried out during a period of significant change, a key feature of which was falling numbers of asylum applications in the State and very significant increases for other immigration services. The review involved a combination of, inter alia, financial and business analysis, resource mapping and allocation modelling and performance management. The outcome of the review was a comprehensive series of recommendations clustered around nine key areas.
A unique feature of the review was that it was a dynamic constantly evolving process. As recommendations were agreed, the implementation cycle also began. This meant that by the end of the Review, all of the recommendations had been accepted and implemented or were at early stages of implementation. A key recommendation in the Report which has been implemented was the establishment in March 2005 of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) to provide a "one stop shop" for immigration, asylum, visa and citizenship services. The visa office of the Department of Foreign Affairs also transferred to INIS in January 2006.
While it is not possible to put a figure on the value of savings to the Exchequer generated from implementation of the Report's recommendations, I can say that greater overall value for money has been achieved in the delivery of services across all asylum and immigration areas in recent years, through improved use of resources and improved efficiencies in the processing of applications. For instance there are now much faster processing timescales for asylum determinations and the backlog which existed a number of years ago has been essentially eliminated. Visa processing times have also been significantly speeded up. Savings have also been achieved through various operational and enforcement strategies and other initiatives undertaken in the asylum and immigration areas in recent years.
Further improvements in service delivery and value for money will be achieved arising from the implementation of a suite of IT systems, including a new case management system for INIS. The implementation of the new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill will also give rise to greater efficiency in how services are provided. In the area of protection, the Bill provides for the introduction of a single procedure for determining all asylum, subsidiary protection and humanitarian leave to remain issues. This will replace the current three stage process under which each of these matters is determined sequentially.